A very good tip was posted on Econsultancy the other week that is so easily overlooked.
Zagat made a critical and not-uncommon error in crafting their survey. All possible answers were ones they wanted to hear: namely, that respondants are and will be willing to pay for their service. Once I was, but I no longer am. [my emphasis]
This allows me to promote an old blog post – Survey Design Tips: Hallway Testing – find someone not involved in writing the questionnaire and ask them to walk through the survey. Hopefully it will help to catch any oversights before the survey goes live.
Dan Wardle
2 responses so far ↓
Dan // 4, January 2010 at 2:58 pm
It is definitely worth adding that it takes time to think through and double-check that the questionnaire works. Another good post on meaning’s blog yesterday – Panel crazy – asks if unrealistic deadlines are at fault…
Choice of words is very important in surveys « Measuring-Satisfaction.com // 8, March 2010 at 11:42 pm
[...] is a question I saw recently which demonstrates the importance of asking questions correctly and checking/testing your survey thoroughly before launch (and also why compulsory questions should [...]